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Fifth Day
-
Novel III

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
001
]
Pietro Boccamazza runs away with Agnolella, and
encounters a gang of robbers: the girl takes refuge in
a wood, and is guided to a castle. Pietro is taken, but
escapes out of the hands of the robbers, and after some
adventures arrives at the castle where Agnolella is,
marries her, and returns with her to Rome.

[Voice:
author
]

[
002
]
Ended Emilia's story, which none of the company
spared to commend, the queen, turning to Elisa, bade her follow suit; and she, with glad
obedience, thus began:

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
003
]
'Tis a story, sweet ladies, of a woeful night passed by two indiscreet
young lovers that I have in mind; but, as thereon ensued not a
few days of joy, 'tis not inapposite to our argument, and shall be
narrated.

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
004
]
'Tis no long time since at Rome, which, albeit now the tail,
was of yore the head, of the world, there dwelt a young man, Pietro
Boccamazza by name, a scion of one of the most illustrious of the
Roman houses, who became enamoured of a damsel exceeding fair, and
amorous withal--her name Agnolella--the daughter of one Gigliuozzo
Saullo, a plebeian, but in high repute among the Romans. [
005
]
Nor, loving
thus, did Pietro lack the address to inspire in Agnolella a love as ardent
as his own. [
006
]
Wherefore, overmastered by his passion, and minded no
longer to endure the sore suffering that it caused him, he asked her
in marriage. Whereof his kinsfolk were no sooner apprised, than
with one accord they came to him and strongly urged him to desist
from his purpose: they also gave Gigliuozzo Saullo to understand that
he were best to pay no sort of heed to Pietro's words, for that,
if he so did, they would never acknowledge him as friend or relative.
[
007
]
Thus to see himself debarred of the one way by which he deemed
he might attain to his desire, Pietro was ready to die for grief, and,
all his kinsfolk notwithstanding, he would have married Gigliuozzo's
daughter, had but the father consented. [
008
]
Wherefore at length he
made up his mind that, if the girl were willing, nought should stand
in the way; and having through a common friend sounded the
damsel and found her apt, he brought her to consent to elope with
him from Rome. [
009
]
The affair being arranged, Pietro and she took
horse betimes one morning, and sallied forth for Anagni, where
Pietro had certain friends, in whom he placed much trust; and as
they rode, time not serving for full joyance of their love, for they
feared pursuit, they held converse thereof, and from time to time
exchanged a kiss. [
010
]
Now it so befell, that, the way being none too
well known to Pietro, when, perhaps eight miles from Rome, they
should have turned to the right, they took instead a leftward road.
Whereon when they had ridden but little more than two miles, they
found themselves close to a petty castle, whence, so soon as they
were observed, there issued some dozen men at arms; [
011
]
and, as they
drew near, the damsel, espying them, gave a cry, and said:
“
We are
attacked, Pietro, let us flee;
”
and guiding her nag as best she knew
towards a great forest, she planted the spurs in his sides, and so, holding
on by the saddle-bow, was borne by the goaded creature into the
forest at a gallop. [
012
]
Pietro, who had been too engrossed with her face
to give due heed to the way, and thus had not been ware, as soon as
she, of the approach of the men at arms, was still looking about to
see whence they were coming, when they came up with him, and
took him prisoner, and forced him to dismount. Then they asked
who he was, and, when he told them, they conferred among themselves,
saying:
“
This is one of the friends of our enemies: what
else can we do but relieve him of his nag and of his clothes, and hang
him on one of these oaks in scorn of the Orsini?
”
[
013
]
To which
proposal all agreeing, they bade Pietro strip himself: but while,
already divining his fate, he was so doing, an ambuscade of full
five-and-twenty
men at arms fell suddenly upon them, crying: [
014
]
“
Death,
death!
”
Thus surprised, they let Pietro go, and stood on the
defensive; but, seeing that the enemy greatly outnumbered them, they
took to their heels, the others giving chase. Whereupon Pietro
hastily resumed his clothes, mounted his nag, and fled with all speed
in the direction which he had seen the damsel take. [
015
]
But finding no
road or path through the forest, nor discerning any trace of a horse's
hooves, he was--for that he found not the damsel--albeit he deemed
himself safe out of the clutches of his captors and their assailants, the
most wretched man alive, and fell a weeping and wandering hither and
thither about the forest, uttering Agnolella's name. [
016
]
None answered;
but turn back he dared not: so on he went, not knowing whither
he went; besides which, he was in mortal dread of the wild beasts
that infest the forest, as well on account of himself as of the damsel,
whom momently he seemed to see throttled by some bear or wolf.
[
017
]
Thus did our unfortunate Pietro spend the whole day, wandering
about the forest, making it to resound with his cries of Agnolella's
name, and harking at times back, when he thought to go forward;
until at last, what with his cries and his tears and his fears and his
long fasting, he was so spent that he could go no further. [
018
]
'Twas
then nightfall, and, as he knew not what else to do, he dismounted
at the foot of an immense oak, and having tethered his nag to the
trunk, climbed up into the branches, lest he should be devoured by
the wild beasts during the night. [
019
]
Shortly afterwards the moon rose
with a very clear sky, and Pietro, who dared not sleep, lest he should
fall, and indeed, had he been secure from that risk, his misery and
his anxiety on account of the damsel would not have suffered him to
sleep, kept watch, sighing and weeping and cursing his evil luck.

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
020
]
Now the damsel, who, as we said before, had fled she knew not
whither, allowing her nag to carry her whithersoever he would,
strayed so far into the forest that she lost sight of the place where
she had entered it, and spent the whole day just as Pietro had done,
wandering about the wilderness, pausing from time to time, and
weeping, and uttering his name, and bewailing her evil fortune. [
021
]
At
last, seeing that 'twas now the vesper hour and Pietro came not, she
struck into a path, which the nag followed, until, after riding some
two miles, she espied at some distance a cottage, for which she made
with all speed, and found there a good man, well stricken in years,
with his wife, who was likewise aged. [
022
]
Seeing her ride up alone,
they said:
“
Daughter, wherefore ridest thou thus alone at this
hour in these parts?
”
[
023
]
Weeping, the damsel made answer that she had
lost her companion in the forest, and asked how far might
Anagni be from there?
“
My daughter,
”
returned the good man,
“
this is not the road to Anagni; 'tis more than twelve miles away.
”
[
024
]
“
And how far off,
”
inquired the damsel,
“
are the nearest houses in
which one might find lodging for the night?
”
[
025
]
“
There are none
so near,
”
replied the good man,
“
that thou canst reach them to-day.
”
[
026
]
“
Then, so please you,
”
said the damsel,
“
since go elsewhither I
cannot, for God's sake let me pass the night here with you.
”
[
027
]
Whereto
the good man made answer:
“
Damsel, welcome art thou to tarry
the night with us; but still thou art to know that these parts are infested
both by day and by night by bands, which, be they friends or be they
foes, are alike ill to meet with, and not seldom do much despite and
mischief, and if by misadventure one of these bands should visit us
while thou wert here, and marking thy youth and beauty should do
thee despite and dishonour, we should be unable to afford thee any
succour. [
028
]
This we would have thee know, that if it should so come
to pass, thou mayst not have cause to reproach us.
”
[
029
]
The damsel
heard not the old man's words without dismay; but, seeing that the
hour was now late, she answered:
“
God, if He be so pleased, will
save both you and me from such molestation, and if not, 'tis a much
lesser evil to be maltreated by men than to be torn in pieces by the
wild beasts in the forest.
”
[
030
]
So saying, she dismounted, and entered
the cottage, where, having supped with the poor man and his wife
on such humble fare as they had, she laid herself in her clothes
beside them in their bed. She slept not, however; for her own evil
plight and that of Pietro, for whom she knew not how to augur
aught but evil, kept her sighing and weeping all night long. [
031
]
And
towards matins she heard a great noise as of men that marched; so
up she got and hied her into a large courtyard that was in rear of the
cottage, and part of which was covered with a great heap of hay,
which she espying, hid herself therein, that, if the men came there,
they might not so readily find her. [
032
]
Scarce had she done so than the
men, who proved to be a strong company of marauders, were at the
door of the cottage, which they forced open; and having entered,
and found the damsel's nag, still saddled, they asked who was there.
[
033
]
The damsel being out of sight, the good man answered:
“
There
is none here but my wife and I; but this nag, which has given some
one the slip, found his way hither last night, and we housed him, lest
he
should be devoured by the wolves.
”
[
034
]
“
So!
”
said the chief of the
band,
“
as he has no owner, he will come in very handy for us.
”

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
035
]
Whereupon, in several parties, they ransacked the cottage from
top to bottom; and one party went out into the courtyard, where,
as they threw aside their lances and targets, it so befell that one of
them, not knowing where else to bestow his lance, tossed it into the
hay, and was within an ace of killing the damsel that lay hid there,
as likewise she of betraying her whereabouts, for the lance all but
grazing her left breast, insomuch that the head tore her apparel, she
doubted she was wounded, and had given a great shriek, but that,
remembering where she was, she refrained for fear. [
036
]
By and by the
company cooked them a breakfast of kid's and other meat, and having
eaten and drunken, dispersed in divers directions, as their affairs
required, taking the girl's nag with them. [
037
]
And when they were
gotten some little way off, the good man asked his wife:
“
What
became of the damsel, our guest of last night, that I have not seen
her since we rose?
”
[
038
]
The good woman answered that she knew
not where the damsel was, and went to look for her. [
039
]
The damsel,
discovering that the men were gone, came forth of the hay, and
the good man, seeing her, was overjoyed that she had not fallen into
the hands of the ruffians, and, as day was breaking, said to her:
“
Now that day is at hand, we will, so it like thee, escort thee to a
castle, some five miles hence, where thou wilt be in safety; but thou
must needs go afoot, because these villains, that are but just gone,
have taken thy nag with them.
”
[
040
]
The damsel, resigning herself to
her loss, besought them for God's sake to take her to the castle:
whereupon they set forth, and arrived there about half tierce. [
041
]
Now
the castle belonged to one of the Orsini, Liello di Campo di Fiore
by name, whose wife, as it chanced, was there. A most kindly
and good woman she was, and, recognizing the damsel as soon as she
saw her, gave her a hearty welcome and would fain have from her a
particular account of how she came there. [
042
]
So the damsel told her
the whole story. The lady, to whom Pietro was also known, as
being a friend of her husband, was distressed to hear of his misadventure,
and being told where he was taken, gave him up for dead.
So she said to the damsel:
“
Since so it is that thou knowest not
how Pietro has fared, thou shalt stay here with me until such time
as I may have opportunity to send thee safely back to Rome.
”

[Voice:
elissa
]

[
043
]
Meanwhile Pietro, perched on his oak in as woeful a plight as
might be, had espied, when he should have been in his first sleep, a
full score of wolves, that, as they prowled, caught sight of the nag,
and straightway were upon him on all sides. [
044
]
The horse, as soon as he
was ware of their approach, strained on the reins till they snapped,
and tried to make good his escape; but, being hemmed in, was
brought to bay, and made a long fight of it with his teeth and hooves;
but in the end they bore him down and throttled him and forthwith
eviscerated him, and, the whole pack falling upon him, devoured him
to the bone before they had done with him. [
045
]
Whereat Pietro, who
felt that in the nag he had lost a companion and a comfort in his
travail, was sorely dismayed, and began to think that he should never
get out of the forest. [
046
]
But towards dawn, he, perched there in the
oak, almost dead with cold, looking around him as he frequently did,
espied about a mile off a huge fire. Wherefore, as soon as 'twas
broad day, he got down, not without trepidation, from the oak, and
bent his steps towards the fire; and being come to it, he found,
gathered about it, a company of shepherds, eating and making merry,
who took pity on him and made him welcome. [
047
]
And when he had
broken his fast and warmed himself, he told them the mishap that
had befallen him, and how it was that he was come there alone, and
asked them if there was a farm or castle in those parts, whither he
might betake him. [
048
]
The shepherds said that about three miles away
there was a castle belonging to Liello di Campo di Fiore, where his lady
was then tarrying. Pietro, much comforted, requested to be guided
thither by some of their company; whereupon two of them right
gladly escorted him. [
049
]
So Pietro arrived at the castle, where he found
some that knew him; and while he was endeavouring to set on foot
a search for the damsel in the forest, the lady summoned him to her
presence, and he, forthwith obeying, and seeing Agnolella with her,
was the happiest man that ever was. [
050
]
He yearned till he all but
swooned to go and embrace her, but refrained, for bashfulness, in the
lady's presence. And overjoyed as he was, the joy of the damsel
was no less. [
051
]
The lady received him with great cheer, and though,
when she had heard the story of his adventures from his own lips, she
chid him not a little for having set at nought the wishes of his kinsfolk;
yet, seeing that he was still of the same mind, and that the
damsel was also constant, she said to herself: To what purpose give
I myself all this trouble? they love one another, they know
one another; they love with equal ardour; their love is honourable,
and I doubt not is well pleasing to God, seeing that the one has
escaped the gallows and the other the lance, and both the wild beasts:
wherefore be it as they would have it. [
052
]
Then, turning to them, she
said:
“
If 'tis your will to be joined in wedlock as man and wife,
mine jumps with it: here shall your nuptials be solemnized and at
Liello's charges, and for the rest I will see that your peace is made
with your kinsfolk.
”
[
053
]
So in the castle the pair were wedded, Pietro
only less blithe than Agnolella, the lady ordering the nuptials as
honourably as might be in her mountain-home, and there they had
most sweet joyance of the first fruits of their love. [
054
]
So some days
they tarried there, and then accompanied by the lady with a strong
escort, they took horse and returned to Rome, where, very wroth
though she found Pietro's kinsfolk for what he had done, the lady
re-established solid peace between him and them; and so at Rome
Pietro and Agnolella lived together to a good old age in great
tranquillity and happiness.